The history of online gambling in Europe has been a bumpy road, with each EU member pushing forward and falling back at its own pace. The fight for power positions among member states has caused much confusion for industry professionals with regards to laws and regulations. Despite all this, online gambling in Europe has both developed and flourished significantly since its introduction.
Attitudes towards the industry and major players
Europe's first major contribution to the development of online gambling was the development of Boss Media AB - the Swedish based software developer. Founded in 1996, the company originally intended to operate the Gold Club Casino only, yet following the major success of its launch, it received many offers from industry affiliates. Very quickly Boss Media became dedicated entirely to online casino software development on a more generic basis. It became a member of the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1999, and a World Lottery Association member in 2002. Boss Media is also a partner of the International Poker Network, and currently provides online gambling solutions to some of the industry's most recognized organizations, including Bwin and Sportingbet.This relative success happened in the midst of the beginnings of a long term battle between EU members to define the limitations of online gambling. There were 3 main approaches that were adopted by the various countries in Europe. Traditional Western Europe, which included France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Germany, initially aimed to restrict or even prohibit online gambling. More liberal European countries such as the UK, Scandinavia and the Netherlands, attempted to establish a regulated and safe online gambling environment for their citizens, of which the UK was most successful and is today turned to as a world leader in comprehensive online gambling regulation. The smaller jurisdictions in the EU, such as Lichtenstein, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Alderney, adopted an open and tolerant approach to online gambling, namely in order to attract new business. Today, they have become some of the most populated areas with online casino operators, and host world leading companies such as WagerWorks, Sun International, and Littlewoods Leisure.
The inconsistency in approaches to online gambling between European countries is the core of most of its legal confusion; whilst some countries allow online gambling operators to operate in their territory yet prohibit them from providing services to residents of that area, other countries maintain monopoly control over their gambling industry and refuse to open their borders to neither other European countries nor International ones. It is mainly through the major court cases filed in European High Courts of Justice that these issues are resolved, and until a single set of guidelines can be imposed on the entire union, loopholes will always remain and generate added levels of confusion.
European operators fights back
In late December of 2007, several major European online casino operators joint forces against the US over discriminatory practices. Their claim was that the UIGEA violated international trade law, and should therefore be replaced with a regulated online gambling system instead. The dispute raged world-wide, with other countries joining the Europeans in their battle against free trade for online gambling, including Canada and Australia. However, the US settled the case with them by providing "compensation" to each country in place of changing its laws.
Online gambling trends in Europe
Europeans have always had an aversion to the American style of casino gambling. Whilst Americans believe that bigger is better, Europeans know that good things come in small packages, and this goes for online gambling in Europe too. Not only are businesses smaller, but they are more protected by the government and more heavily based on what they call "good causes" and social control.With regards to games, Poker has been the long time favorite of most European countries, and given rise to some of the most competitive online poker champions the world has seen, including Dave Ulliott, Marcel Luske, Jeffrey Lisandro and Erik Friberg. It is also the reason that so many respected online poker rooms have been developed over the past few years. Online lotteries have also been quite popular, yet legal complications have made it difficult for this market to grow. The latest trend to successfully hit the online gambling domain is online bingo, which has simply boomed over the last year and given way to an entirely new market.
